Published · 6 min read · Facts checked 9 October 2026 against the sources below
Cyprus festivals follow two calendars at once: the fixed national holidays, and the moving feasts of the Orthodox Church, which shift every year with Easter. If you are staying near Coral Bay, Paphos, you can see a good share of them without going far, and the bigger town festivals in Limassol and Larnaca are a day trip away. Here is the year month by month, with the 2027 dates that are confirmed and a note where they are not.
How the festival year works
On the island’s public holidays, public services, banks and most shops close, although many shops in resorts and coastal areas stay open. The moving feasts all hang off Orthodox Easter: Green Monday comes about seven weeks before it, and Kataklysmos, at Pentecost, about seven weeks after.
In 2027 the two Easters are five weeks apart. Western (Catholic) Easter Sunday is on 28 March, and Orthodox Easter Sunday is on 2 May. If you are booking around a school holiday, check which one the island is celebrating.
On the big holidays, expect limited services, closed shops, reduced transport timetables and bigger crowds, and approach the celebrations with respect. Plan shopping and longer drives around them, and you will find most days carry on as normal for a visitor in a resort.
The bigger cultural festivals, such as the opera in Paphos and the Limassol wine festival, are run by municipalities and publish their dates late, often only weeks ahead. Where that is the case below, we say so.
Cyprus festivals at a glance
The 2027 dates below are the confirmed ones: the public holidays, and the festivals whose organisers have announced them. Nothing else had been announced by October 2026, so check before you go.
| Month | Festival or holiday | 2027 date |
|---|---|---|
| January | New Year’s Day; Epiphany | 1 January; 6 January |
| February to March | Carnival (Apokries), Limassol and Paphos | Limassol 4–14 March; Paphos not yet announced |
| March | Green Monday | 15 March |
| March | Greek National Day | 25 March |
| April | National Anniversary Day | 1 April |
| April to May | Orthodox Easter | Good Friday 30 April to Easter Monday 3 May |
| June | Kataklysmos (Pentecost) | Holiday on Monday 21 June; festivals around it |
| August | Assumption; village and grape festivals | 15 August; others announced in summer |
| September | Pafos Aphrodite Festival; Limassol wine festival | Not yet announced |
| October | Cyprus Independence Day; Greek National Anniversary Day | 1 October; 28 October |
| December | Christmas | 24, 25 and 26 December |
Carnival, Green Monday and 25 March
Carnival, or Apokries, fills the weeks before Lent with parades and costumes. Limassol’s is the largest on the island: its 2027 carnival runs for eleven days, from 4 to 14 March, ending with the Grand Carnival Parade on Sunday 14 March. Paphos holds its own parade too. In 2026 it was on Saturday 21 February, with floats, costumes and thousands of people lining the route, and the 2027 date will be announced nearer the time.
The day after carnival ends is Green Monday, the first day of Lent and a public holiday, on 15 March in 2027. Families head out to parks, fields and the coast for picnics of Lenten food, and the sky fills with kites. There are warnings not to fly them near Paphos and Larnaca airports, so pick your spot with care. In Paphos homes you may also see the Kyra Sarakosti, a dough figure with seven legs, one of which is removed each Saturday until Easter.
Greek National Day
On 25 March Cyprus marks Greek National Day, a public holiday. In 2025 Paphos held a service at St Theodoros Cathedral and then a parade along Griva Digeni avenue, with schoolchildren, veterans and National Guard units marching to a band. It is a proud, formal occasion rather than a party, and worth watching if you are in town that morning. One week later, 1 April is National Anniversary Day, another public holiday.
Orthodox Easter
Easter is the biggest event of the Cypriot year, and in 2027 Orthodox Easter Sunday falls on 2 May, with public holidays on Good Friday, 30 April, and Easter Monday, 3 May. Expect the Good Friday procession, a midnight service on Saturday night with bonfires, and family meals of lamb and red-dyed eggs on Sunday. The main archaeological sites and museums close only on Easter Sunday during Holy Week. We cover the week in detail in our guide to Easter in Cyprus.
Kataklysmos at Pentecost
Kataklysmos, the Festival of the Flood, falls at Pentecost, and its Monday is a public holiday: 21 June in 2027. It is a seaside festival above all. Larnaca’s is the best known: the town’s largest and oldest celebration, held for more than 100 years, and it is on UNESCO’s list of intangible cultural heritage. In 2026 it ran from 29 May to 3 June on the Foinikoudes promenade, with stalls, a funfair, two stages and water competitions, all free.
In past years Paphos has celebrated by the harbour. In 2023 the festivities ran for four days in the castle square and port, with folk dancing, concerts and a show in the sea, and in 2026 there were stalls of traditional food over the holiday weekend. The dates and programme are confirmed close to the event, so check the Visit Pafos events calendar (opens in a new tab) in May. Our Paphos harbour and castle guide covers the area.
Summer: village festivals and 15 August
Summer is the season of the panigyri, the village festival held on a church’s saint’s day. Most fall between May and September, starting with a church service and carrying on into the evening with food stalls and live Greek and Cypriot folk music. Dates follow each church’s saint’s day, so ask locally what is on during your stay.
The grape harvest brings its own events. In 2026 the village of Kathikas held its grape festival on 21 August from 20:00, with free grapes, food and drink to buy, and Greek music. Our Kathikas and Akamas villages guide covers the village itself.
The big date is 15 August, the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, second in importance only to Easter. It is a public holiday in the middle of the summer break, so expect busy roads and many businesses closed.
Opera and wine in September
Each year the Pafos Aphrodite Festival stages an open-air opera in the square in front of the medieval castle at Kato Paphos harbour. The 24th festival, on 4 and 5 September 2026, was Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’Amore, performed by the Armenian National Academic Theatre of Opera and Ballet with the Cyprus Symphony Orchestra. Tickets were sold through Ticketmaster Cyprus and ACS Courier. The 2027 dates and opera had not been announced by October 2026, so look for the announcement in the summer.
Late September brings the Limassol Wine Festival, run by Limassol Municipality in the Municipal Garden. In 2026 it ran from 26 September to 4 October, with wineries pouring at their stands, Cypriot food, concerts, folk dancing and activities for children. There were free buses from Paphos on selected dates. Read our Cyprus wine guide for the wineries, and our guide to getting from Paphos to Limassol for the journey.
October to Christmas
October has two public holidays: Cyprus Independence Day on 1 October and Greek National Anniversary Day on 28 October.
Christmas in Cyprus is a family occasion, mostly celebrated at home, and Christmas Day and Boxing Day are both public holidays. The public side starts in early December: in 2024 Paphos lit its Christmas tree in Kennedy Square with a parade and Santa. The season closes on 6 January with Epiphany, when the cross is thrown into the sea at the harbour and swimmers dive in to bring it back. Our guide to winter sun in Cyprus has more on Christmas, New Year and Epiphany.
Where to stay
If you are planning a birthday, an anniversary or a family reunion around one of these dates, a villa gives you somewhere to carry on the celebration. Villa Prasino in Peyia sleeps 6 in 3 bedrooms, with a 6 × 12 m diving pool, a hot tub, an outdoor bar with fire pit seating, a traditional stone BBQ and covered outdoor dining.
The covered games area has a pool table, table tennis, table football and darts, and Coral Bay beach is about 5 km away. See our villa for celebrations, check availability and rates for festival dates, and send us a booking request with your dates when you are ready.
